Setting the course for my 2020 inquiry journey

Teacher inquiry is a funny thing isn't it. For many teachers it is the thing that they love to hate, an exercise in compliance.

But for me I think I would be reflecting on my teaching whether it were a part of my appraisal or not. Since undertaking a Master's study in 2018 I see the value of practitioner led inquiry. I think that is the key. Practitioner led. If I were to be told what my goals were, or have parameters placed around what my goals could and couldn't be, I would quickly rebel.

For me inquiry needs to be timely and relevant. It needs to address authentic issues within my context, not create layers of extra work and bureaucracy.

Earlier in the year I set my professional inquiry goals, thinking back to last years' inquiry and the needs identified.

For my face to face class, I decided that it was important to develop reflective capabilities in my junior and middle school students, and as I reflect on this goal amid schools put together plans for how they might deal with covid-19 should it develop in our community, it seems more relevant than ever. 

If my students aren't able to be in class, or if indeed the school is unable to be open physically, I need to ensure that my students are able to continue engage with their learning and take ownership of their learning, without their teacher in their faces telling them what to do.

For my online class, my goal is to use a knowledge building approach to engage online learners. This has the potential to be quite a challenging goal, if students join my online class for a period of time while they are unable to access their face to face classes. This is a possibility if their school isn't equipped to deliver curriculum digitally and engage with their students by distance. I would have to think quite carefully about how I manage this, as there is a whole lot that I weave into the background of my online class to ensure that students are connected as a community and engaging with each other in and out of our scheduled VC time. Creating a safe space to work as a class, takes a fair bit of intentional learning design.

I also think that there is a great deal of potential to model and share quite innovative practice to a wider 'audience', there is potential for online teachers to be leaders in terms of pedagogy, here.